Quote of the Day (September 30, 2011)

Erick Erickson Finally Explodes
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Mark America:

“Erickson has reduced his own stature to that of a petulant child screaming ‘Now!’ It’s a sad spectacle, and I really don’t care to watch it much longer, because I hate to see people self-destruct.”

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention Part 387

“Whatever it takes” Edition
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Gary P Jackson, at A Time For Choosing:

“Sarah brings up Solyndra and calls it ‘crony capitalism on steroids.’ Says whatever it takes to retire the permanent political class that embraces it: ‘We’re going to do it!’ For readers who may not know, this is how Sarah Palin won big in Alaska. She took on the massive corruption and cronyism, in both parties. She ran as a Republican, but whipped the sitting Republican governor like a rented mule. Once in office she worked day and night reforming government, and removing the incentives that made it so easy to corrupt the system. Sarah championed legislation that made cronyism a crime. There are many problems in our nation right now: A collapsing economy, high unemployment, energy issues, illegal immigration, just to name a few. Once one gets past the political ideology, at the bottom of it all you will find cronyism... The permanent political class, the Ruling Class, has harmed our nation greatly. It’s time they all go, and we replace them with honorable and ethical people.”

Dana Loesch, via Twitter:

“I hear Obama would like to thank everyone mad at Palin over announcement. Helps keep Fast & Furious, Solyndra, Keystone out of the news.”

Mark America:

“I know that Palin is a smart player, because she refuses to get locked into a date and time by the media. She flatly told Napolitano that she holds her cards close intentionally, knowing that the media is relentless in trying to nail her down as to some arbitrary announcement date they have concocted and pushed for their own purposes... While her supporters are still anxious for battle, most of them have now begun to see how this is playing out and have recognized the benefits of waiting a bit longer. They’re no longer worried over silly media narratives telling them when Palin ‘must be in’ or when ‘it’s too late.’ They’ve finally noticed that for all this talk by the punditry, on every show or interview in which she appears, Governor Palin is still being asked relentlessly to announce her intentions, and for her supporters, this has finally sunk in: The pundits had told us it was too late at least once in each of the last five months, and frankly, many more times than that, but if it’s too late, and Governor Palin is irrelevant, why do they still ask her with such insistent vigor? This stark and telling dose of reality ought to wash over anybody who has bought into that notion: If it’s allegedly so late, much too late according to some, why is it that they keep asking anyway?”

William A. Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection:

“Perry’s high profile supporters do him no favors by acting like children.”

William A. Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection:

“According to Juan Williams, Christie only will get in if it looks like Palin is getting in, setting himself up as the anti-Palin, since she would be unstoppable against the current field... The only way for Christie to get out from under his promises and suicide threats not to run is to claim that the world has changed. Which it would have if Palin gets in. The problem with Christie’s strategy of waiting for Palin is that Palin keeps waiting, while Christie keeps promising he’s not running. A late entrance by Palin will make her look tactically astute, while a reactionary late entrance by Christie will make him look like a reactionary late entrant.”

Anthony Salvanto & Robert Hendin, at CBS News' Political Hotsheet:

“Late October appears to be the latest someone could get in, gear up, and run in the early states, given all the requirements and needs of a campaign.”

Dr. Michael Santos, at Tea Party Tribune:

“I won’t say that she is the only one that can beat President Obama, because that is not true. Many of the Republicans running have a good shot. But none of them will reverse the course that we are in. None of them recognize the existential threat that our Big Government represents to the future of this Republic as a ‘land of the free.’ Indeed, Obama’s defeat in 2012 at the hands of any of the current GOP contenders would be nothing but a setback for the progressive movement. Sure, if elected Republicans will stop some of the damage being done by our current president and slow down our decline. However, without a fundamental restoration of everything that has made America great, then four or eight years from now another dedicated progressive will pick up right where Obama leaves off. And a dark future will continue to fall down upon our children and grandchildren. Governor Palin is the right person, at the right place, and at the right time. We are reaching a point of no return in this country. And she is the only one close enough to the wheal to make a desperately needed U turn. To run or not to run? Actually, it is not a difficult question to answer at all. It might be a difficult answer for her to accept. The fact that she is struggling to accept this answer is the very reason why she is the one we need.”

Jedediah Bila, via Twitter:

“Isn't it funny that those insisting @SarahPalinUSA couldn't win are the very ones obsessed with the details of her announcement date?”

Carol Peracchio, at American Thinker:

“In watching this circus, I've come to the conclusion that the only winner has been Sarah Palin. Governor Palin has steadfastly refused to declare her candidacy to participate in these early debates, despite the screeching from the Republican intelligentsia and the media. She seems to see what the rest of us see: that this far out from the primaries, debates serve no positive purpose. It's embarrassing to watch accomplished, intelligent candidates submit themselves to questioning from a hostile news media so moronic that a couple of years ago they actually believed that Barack Obama was a ‘sort of God.’ Come on, candidates! Take a page from Sarah Palin's playbook and stop playing by the establishment's rules. The best thing you can do this election season is also the most difficult. You need to trust the conservative electorate. Trust us to listen to you, to study the issues, and to pick a candidate on our own, without reliance on this contrived sound bite cattle call. With no leaders, and complete disdain for the Republican establishment, the Tea Party made history in 2010. So why in the world would today's candidates believe that we are now going to return to the tired, old, unsuccessful methods of choosing a president?”

Patrick S. Adams, at Liberty's Lamp:

“Sarah Palin has successfully assumed control of her decision.”

Patrick S. Adams, at Patrick's World USA:

“This is her decision. She has family and career considerations that override what anyone else outside of her immediate circle can tell her. But if the calling is loud, and if she has already decided or is in the process of deciding to run, she will know that she count on millions of Americans to support her. We are not a conglomeration of special interest groups looking to capitalize on her candidacy. We are not gadfly voters who just vote Republican in support of the candidate for whatever particular ballot is up for a vote on any election day. We are not a fan club. We are Americans who have lost their country and we want our country back. The interest is this: we know that Sarah Palin can lead us back to a free enterprise system which relies on self reliance and the rule of law. We are not looking for handouts. We are looking for opportunity. Sarah Palin has the resume, the experience, the political philosophy and the recognition needed to run for president. The rest of us don't. If there was someone else among us who better fit the bill of what America needs, we'd be supporting them, not her. This is not about putting her up on the pedestal. Without us, she can't win... We are the movement.”

Jeff Goldstein, via Twitter:

“Q: do people not believe Palin's conservatism? If not, why? If so, why the desire to run her down? She's like the political Tim Tebow.”

Neil W. McCabe, at Human Events:

“The California GOP operative, who in 2008 lobbied for Sarah Palin’s selection on the presidential ticket with John S. McCain III, is convinced she will announce for president in 2012 based on his time with her during her Sept. 3 appearances in Iowa. “When she came off stage, she was mobbed like a rock star,” said Frank A. Aquila, the founding president of the South San Joaquin Republicans and the author of “Sarah Palin: Out of Nowhere,” a book about his push inside the McCain campaign to make the then-Alaska governor the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee. Aquila said he was impressed by the Palin’s composure and charisma during her speeches, but it was the reaction of the crowds, many of whom waited in the rain, to the former governor.”

It's Only Words:

“I’m not sure, but I think this makes Joe McGinnis the Chevy Volt of authors; over-hyped and not nearly as eagerly anticipated as we were led to believe.”

Sarah Rumpf, at Sunshine State Sarah:

“If I were advising Random House, I would tell them to immediately offer to publicly apologize to the Palins, revoke and destroy all copies of the book, disclaim any support for the contents, pay any legal bills that the Palins have incurred so far, and to donate a significant sum to the charity of the Palins' choice. ”

Exit Quote - Dwight D. Eisenhower :

“An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.”

- JP

Day By Day (September 30, 2011)

Brave Sir Robbin'
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Good morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day:


Please support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 29, 2011)

Palin, Cain, ‘Flavor of the Week’, and the Beauty of New Media
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John Nolte, at Big Journalism:

“This isn’t Palin’s personal impression of Cain and she’s not in any way dismissing his impact on the race or his showing in recent polls... But within the context Governor Palin was speaking of, she’s absolutely right. Pretty soon the fickle media and the powers-that-be in the GOP will get excited over the next shiny object that enters their line of sight — and maybe that’s already happened with Christie...”

- JP

Sarah Palin: I’m one of Herman Cain's biggest fans

"I would never dismiss him or speak negatively about him."
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Sarah Palin's Fox News colleagues are lining up to take cheap shots at her lately. Gov. Palin and Juan Williams were both Judge Andrew Napolitano's guests on "Freedom Watch" Thursday night in successive segments on Fox Business. Williams accused Palin of making a "nasty" remark about Herman Cain earlier this week. In the following segment, Gov. Palin couldn't wait to correct the record:

"What the media tends to do is propel this flavor of the week. I’m not saying that Herman Cain is the flavor of the week. I’m one of his biggest fans and I would never dismiss him or speak negatively about him. I’m saying in this fast movie, 24/7 news cycle that is our world today that the media does have to gin up some controversy and intrigue so viewers tune in and there’s a lot of competition in the media world in this quasi-reality show it seems that’s being created in the GOP primary. It’s just the nature of the beast right now and I think anybody would hard-pressed to argue against what I observed."

The 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate also made it clear that she is in no hurry to announce her decision on whether to jump into the 2012 presidential race, reminding Judge Napolitano that she holds her political cards close to her vest:

"This is a serious decision, and I’m engaged in serious deliberations. So within the next 24 hours don’t look for me to make a decision."

When asked by the judge which of the declared GOP candidates' values were closer to her own, she named Cain, Gov. Gary Johnson and Rep. Ron Paul as standing "outside the permanent political class." Although she said the presidential debates help voters to vet the candidates, she criticized them for only allowing the debaters enough time in their answers to deliver soundbites instead of insights into their policy positions.

h/t: SarahNet

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention Part 386

“Girl, you'll be a woman soon” Edition
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Ron Devito, at US for Palin:

“Absent a title, Gov. Palin enjoys unbridled freedom to shape the political debate on her terms, but quite possibly with much less influence. The next title gives her the ability to sign or veto legislation and treaties, and make decisions about war and peace – that is, lead this nation. Gov. Palin is carefully considering this for all the right reasons. She’s not pursuing a title or power. She knows the Presidency is a calling. She knows she’s been summoned. It’s public service and sacrifice. She wants to do what’s right for this country and discharge the duties of that office unbeholden to anyone. Yes, we want her to run. None of the other candidates possess a single one of her leadership traits. The others simply fail to inspire. But, we cannot let our zeal for her running turn into petulant demands, whining that ‘she owes us,’ and putting words in her mouth she never said. It was NJ Gov. Chris Christie who said he was not running on Tuesday night, not Gov. Palin. Gov. Palin knows that if she runs, failure is not an option. There’s also an historic element should she run that amplifies failure not being an option. You see, Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton left some unfinished business. Somehow, I think Gov. Palin is going to show little girls of this country exactly what they can do.”

Ronald Reagan, via Jeanette Pryor:

“A candidate doesn’t make the decision whether to run for president; the people make it for him.”

BJ Wilson, at Coloradans4Palin:

“To the activists, donors, party officials, and elected officials. To the pundits, kingmakers, and power brokers. Here we have the single most successful political figure of our time in the post-Obama era, a member of the GOP no less, and what is your response? ... Christie? Chris Christie... This is your Ronald Reagan? ... Reagan was a former presidient of the Screen Actors Guild... Rather than intimidate union members like Christie, he welcomed them into the party, as Palin has tried to do by emphasizing her union membership and family background... Reagan had a media job right up until he announced late, and gave many substantive positions on the issues before he ran, as Palin has done with FOX and her Facebook notes. Not so Christie. Like Reagan, Palin has a working class background that attracts indepedents. She also has some experience in the media, so she understands how to connect with people emotionally and in her speeches. Christie does not. What are you people smoking?”

Jelayne Sessler, at Palin Defender:

“I don't believe for one second that she hasn't already decided. Think about it, if she wasn't running there would be no reason to put off telling us her decision. This isn't rocket science folks, if it were; we would ask Herman Cain for help.”

Patrick S. Adams, at Patrick's World USA:

“We are at a unique moment in our political timeline. In the past, elections have been decided by who could best convince the people that they were most qualified to take care of them. This time around, we don't want people ‘taking care of us.’ We have finally discovered what was festering in our system for over a century now. Yeah, we know about the communists in the 1950's. Yeah, we know about the European socialist style progressives of today. But we never stopped to realize that capitalism is not the problem, it's the people who are trying to control capitalism that are the problem. When neither political party chooses to address this fact, the people become cynical. The people know they are frustrated by a system where merit is replaced with a ‘it's not what you know, but who you know’ or a ‘you can't beat city hall’ attitude. This kills creativity. This kills entrepreneurship... Governor Palin's crusading speech against crony capitalism in Iowa tells us we can change this. Should she run, she would be uniquely situated to move the Republican Party in a direction that would give voters hope and optimism again... We are not looking to elect another Republican just so we can get rid of the socialism. We need to elect someone who can renew and restore our country.”

Becky Beach, Iowa GOP Fundraiser:

“I think it’s going to be so unconventional if she decides to run, a few weeks aren’t going to matter one way or the other. If she decides to run the enthusiasm will be there...”

Lori Calabrese, at Examiner.com:

“Americans do respect hard-working Americans who have had to bust their butts to get where they’re at. We want a candidate we can relate to, who knows the issues and problems we face every day... Americans respect Sarah Palin for getting her hands dirty on her family’s fishing boat and going rogue to tackle issues close to her heart. You would think the smartest leaders in American politics would have figured this out by now, but unfortunately they haven’t. Americans want the real politicians to please stand up--a politician who isn’t in it for the fame and popularity, but rather someone who is focused on influencing positive change in America. While others continue to analyze the fact that Palin has not announced what she plans to do, personally, I found it refreshing to hear Palin ponder her run based on the question, ‘is a title worth it?’”

Gary P Jackson, at A Time For Choosing:

“Sarah Palin is... fully aware of all of the work being done nationwide on her behalf. For months Sarah has had numerous opportunities to tell these hard working organizers to stand down. Instead, she has only encouraged them to keep on doing what they are doing. I can’t believe she would do that if she wasn’t going to run.”

Tim Graham, at NewsBusters:

“People magazine gave prominent play on the front of its Books section in the latest edition... to two Palin-trashing books by Joe McGinniss and Levi Johnston. They weren't officially reviewed, since there was no rating of how many stars they had earned. The headline was ‘Seeking the Real Sarah? Two dirt-dishing bios of Sarah Palin play fast and loose with the facts but transport readers deep into the Wasilla, Alaska ethos that shaped her.’ Why would People try to be even-handed here? The books aren't factually dependable, but they reflect Palin's local ‘ethos’? Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, a People reporter and former White House reporter for the Associated Press, dances this soft-shoe throughout the short piece, next to large photos of the book covers... Notice how People just dishes corrosive allegations of drug use and adultery and doesn't really suggest they're unsubstantiated? They're certainly not unverified enough to avoid spreading. Can anyone imagine People doing this with an anti-Obama book of the same unverified nature?”

John Sexton, at Verum Serum:

“New York City has seven million people. Selling 442 copies of a book with this level of media awareness is a major flop.”

Stacy McCain, at The Other McCain:

“Politico tried to ‘perpetuate misinformation,’ and between Slate’s Dave Weigel and Hot Air’s Tina Korbe, this gets turned into a kerfuffle. Read the freakin’ transcript: While Palin did say Cain was ‘flavor of the week’ — that is to say, from the media perspective he’s the Next New Thing – she followed that with effusive praise for him as representing ‘the real people of America,’ with whom he has an ‘automatic connection.’ Sarah Palin has always been a Herman Cain fan, and is still a Herman Cain fan. I’d have to look it up, but earlier this year, she re-Tweeted one of Cain’s columns. The media are trying to gin up a phony controversy — ‘Let’s you and him fight,’ as they say down home – and the last thing Cain should do is to believe what the media say about Sarah Palin. They’re ‘makin' up stuff’ again!”

Stacy McCain, at The American Spectator's Spectacle Blog:

“Thanks to McGinniss's e-mail to Griffin, the Palins have Random House in a bad situation, and the only question is whether the Palins will stop short of a court trial against the publisher... And exactly how Random House's attorneys ‘made an independent judgment about the trustworthiness’ of sources they had never even met would certainly make for lively court proceedings, if such a case ever went to trial.”

Aaron Goldstein, at The American Spectator's Spectacle Blog:

“The question is would Palin rather use her resources to make a run for the White House, or lend support to a candidate she thinks can unseat President Obama, or would she rather use her resources to sue McGinniss and Random House? I know those options aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, assuming Palin is going to make a bid for the White House she will have to consider how much time and resources a lawsuit would divert from that effort. I completely understand her motivations in wanting to sue McGinniss and Random House especially if she can prove they engaged in ‘actual malice’ against her and her family. But there is a risk that a lawsuit could inadvertently help McGinniss and restore his prestige as an author. In that case, wouldn't the best punishment for McGinniss and Random House be a pile of books they can't sell?”

John Nolte , at Big Hollywood:

“Hollywood Heckler Apologizes to Bristol Palin... I wish no physical harm on Hanks or his pooch, but am I unhappy he’s had an awful week in the wake of his cowardly bullying? Cry me a river, play me a violin.”

Gene Lalor, at Gene's Blog:

“Slime, Sleaze, and Levi Johnston discussed in some detail Johnston’s ghost-written, politically-inspired and financed hatchet job on his former fiancee, Bristol Palin, and the Palin family, Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin’s Crosshairs. In view of the tacky similarities between Johnston’s sleaze and Joe McGinness’ tripe, it’s difficult to believe they didn’t collaborate. When it comes to hatchet jobs and unmitigated squalor, no recent writing surpasses the venture into the arena of political and character assassination better than Joe McGinness’ salacious book about Sarah Palin and her family... McGinness began his quest for Palin dirt two years ago by renting a house adjacent to the family property in Wasilla, Alaska, so close that the Palins had to erect an 8 foot fence to keep Peeping Joe from spying on the family... Apparently, Peeping Joe didn’t see nearly enough to fill a book so he proceeded to fill The Rogue with other rumors and innuendo... Put more succinctly, the author... is a liar and his book a pack of lies, which places Joe McGinness in the same, sorry league as Levi Johnston, an unethical, immoral fabricator of a work which purports to be true and is actually the precise opposite.”

Exit Quote - George Washington, in a letter to Eleanor Parke Custis:

“A sensible woman can never be happy with a fool.”

- JP

Day By Day (September 29, 2011)

Indulgences
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Good morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day:


Please support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 28 2011)

‘I Apologize’: Bristol Palin’s Bar Heckler Buckles Under Negative Media Coverage
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Billy Hallowell, at The Blaze:

“Just days after Hanks got into an altercation with Palin, then reiterated his offensive comments, he is now curiously apologetic.”

- JP

Sarah Palin: Now He’s Blaming Europe

As posted on Facebook
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Now He’s Blaming Europe

On Monday, during a fundraiser in California, President Obama declared that Europe’s debt problems and their inability to solve them was “scaring the world.” He went on to explain that Europeans “have not fully healed from the crisis back in 2007 and never fully dealt with the challenges that their banking system faced” and that “they’re trying to take responsible actions, but those actions haven’t been quite as quick as they need to be.”

This of course is coming from a President who has done nothing to deal with our own country’s enormous debt crisis and who is in fact eager to incur even more debt with another useless stimulus bill (now called a “jobs bill” though the last stimulus failed to produce the jobs it promised, which is perhaps why Harry Reid doesn’t seem too eager to bring this new bill to a vote despite the President’s demands to “pass this bill”). Yes, Europe has serious debt problems, but for President Obama to be lecturing our allies about not being “quite as quick” in dealing with a debt crisis is downright hypocritical.

When his all-too-common finger-pointing is directed at Republicans, President Obama’s search for a scapegoat is swallowed as merely the typical Beltway politics of our permanent political class. But pointing fingers at our allies when they are working to get their own financial house in order is counterproductive and can have a serious negative affect on our ability to lead the free world.

One German newspaper denounced the President’s comments as “overbearing, arrogant, and absurd.” Another wrote: “The gloomy state of the economy is putting a damper on Obama’s future prospects. The optimism of the past is gone, replaced by a cheap search for a scapegoat.” And still another wrote: “That’s not how friends talk to each other. That applies particularly to friends who have themselves failed to get a handle on their own, self-made crisis.”

Can we blame them for feeling this way? Keep in mind this was a President who was supposed to make the rest of the world “like” us again.

It’s about time the President showed some leadership and took responsibility rather than campaigning on blaming everyone else for the financial mess his policies have exacerbated.

Between President Obama’s hypocritical lecture poking our allies in the eye again and one Democrat governor’s call to postpone lawfully mandated elections for two years, I suppose nothing should surprise concerned Americans anymore. But that doesn’t mean we have to accept these misguided memes. 2012 can’t come soon enough.

- Sarah Palin

- JP

Gov. Palin: L'shanah tovah! Happy New Year!

As posted on Facebook
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L'shanah tovah! Happy New Year!

We wish our friends in the Jewish community a shanah tovah u'metukah – a happy and sweet new year!

Rosh Hashanah is the time for new beginnings and, for me personally, I’ve always considered the new season as providing an opportunity for clear thinking about priorities.

God bless our Jewish friends, and may Israel be blessed with peace and strength as she continues to innovate and prosper and befriend our own great nation.

May this new year be filled with manifestations of our respect for our ally Israel and our nation’s Judeo-Christian foundations.

- Sarah Palin

- JP

‘The Undefeated’ Goes North to Alaska

“We're going to make that announcement here in the next week.”
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In an interview for The Victory Sessions, filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon told Sarah Palin's brother Chuck Heath, Jr. that he's bringing his documentary film to Alaska for a Wasilla screening:


We're reminded of the Steve Allen song, “This could be the start of something big,” which was such a big deal that it replaced the theme music for the “Tonight Show” back in the day when Allen was the host.

The entire Chuck Heath, Jr. interview is well worth a listen, and you'll find it on The Victory Sessions website.

- JP

Day By Day (September 28, 2011)

Jesus...Saves
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Good morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day:


Please support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 27 2011)

‘Discovery Is a Bitch,’ as They Say…
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Stacy McCain, at The Real McCain:

“If I were a Random House executive, I’d be very worried right now.”

- JP

Sarah Palin: ‘Independents want to know that Republicans get it’

“The problem today is Barack Obama's socialist-leaning, failed policies that will bankrupt this country.”
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Now Gov. Palin seems to be saying that her decision whether to run for the White House depends on whether the title of president and a campaign could be “too shackling”:


h/t: Ron Devito

- JP

Bristol Palin: Just to clear things up

As posted by Bristol on Facebook
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Just To Clear Things Up

As a lot of you know, I had an encounter in West Hollywood the other day with an unhinged guy who was yelling hateful things at me about my Mom. The press has only shown a part of the encounter, so many reporters have totally missed the point of my comments. Most people may have walked away rather than go up to some guy raging like that and try to find out what his problem is. But that’s not how I’m wired. I usually do walk away, but I'm very tired of hateful people lying about my Mom, my family, and myself. So, this time I tried to get to the bottom of it.

I asked the guy if the reason he was so angry at my Mom was because he was gay. I was NOT baiting him or mocking him or in any way being derogatory of gays. It was just the opposite! I know that some members of the gay community have completely false notions about my Mom. I wanted to clear this up with this guy, but he was so far gone in his crazy hatred that rational conversation was impossible.

I think so much of the hatred directed at my Mom is based on lies and misconceptions about her and our family. It’s gotten so out of control that a 40-something guy in West Hollywood started shrieking obscenities at the top of his lungs and wishing death on my Mom, just at the thought of her. She hasn't done anything to warrant his hatred, and I wanted to address that.

As I said to that hate-filled guy in West Hollywood: Show me one thing my Mom has done that is so “evil” as to warrant the hatred and death wishes people heap on her and her kids.

The crazy guy had no answer because there is no answer. You can disagree with her politics without vilifying her or lying about us.

Isn’t it time for this crazy hatred to stop? That’s what I was trying to say to that guy.

- Bristol

h/t: Ron Devito

- JP

Greta will ask Sarah Palin tonight if she can beat Obama

9PM Central Time
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Gov. Palin goes On The Record again tonight, and according to GretaWire, one topic of discussion will be what she thinks her chances would be in a general election match up with the president:

Does Sarah Palin think she can beat President Obama in the 2012 election? Tune in at 10pm/ET to find out!

In November of 2010, ABC's Barbara Walters asked that same question of the former GOP vice presidential candidate, who answered in the affirmative. Now in September of 2012, a recent Marist poll shows her numbers to be much closer to Obama's than was the case last year.

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention Part 385

“Unifying Spirit” Edition
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Bernie Quigley, at The Hill's Pundits Blog:

“Time to bring in Sarah Palin... Last year Palin, who defines herself as a ‘constitutional conservative,’ said she would enter the race if no one else who expressed the rising geist of Tea Party values did... And she needs to think about getting back in this as the Tea Party vote scurries around the margins without the unifying spirit she brought to it from the beginning; Herman Cain today, Michele Bachmann yesterday, Ron Paul the day before. Gary Johnson tomorrow. Without Sarah Palin, the Tea Party is separating out to a secondary political element with minor figures. For the new conservative values to stabilize and advance, Palin might be a necessity. She is an archetypal figure, like John Lennon or Reagan... The Grizzly Mama has the animal spirits and, as she has said, a ‘servant’s heart.’ She will do the right thing.”

Ed Rollins, former Bachmanm campaign manager:

“It’s never too late for Gov. Palin... I would argue at this point in time, with Perry not moving forward as much as people thought, she could jump in there and fill that void.”

Tim Stanley, at The Telegraph:

“Perry’s stumbles open up the field on the Right... Strangely, the stronger candidate is Sarah Palin. For months now commentators (me included) have been saying that she is damaged goods and that the longer she has waited to announce her candidacy, the less logistically possible it has become. But now we’re wondering if Mrs Palin hasn’t been playing a brilliant long game, letting the other candidates beat each other up before entering the fray. Perhaps the biggest issue of this primaries season is authenticity: Romney has none and Perry’s has been called into doubt. Palin is low on personnel and money, but the Tea Party knows who she is, believes in her and will back her if there’s no viable conservative alternative. There’s no one more authentically Right-wing than Sarah Palin. Palin is just five points behind President Obama in a hypothetical match-up: a better position than Rick Perry. If she jumped in now – and it would have to be now – she would eclipse Perry as the anti-Romney candidate overnight.”

Chuck Ness, at News Blaze:

“The question is, why should Sarah enter the race ahead of her own schedule? If you ask me, I think she is one smart cookie to be sitting by as the current candidates destroy each other.”

Crista Huff, at Townhall.com Finance:

“Sarah Palin’s record in Alaska shows her to be the bravest, most effective executive I’ve ever seen. She accomplished incredible feats as Governor and united Democrats and Republicans in order to succeed with projects which brought great prosperity to her state. She swept the Capitol clean of traditional political corruption and cronyism in situations where typical politicians wouldn’t dare risk their political capital and financial support by rocking the boat... If we do not elect a fiscal conservative in November 2012 who will dramatically rein in debt and spending, remove onerous business regulations and decrease corporate taxes, your concerns over issues like abortion will be moot, because in socialist governments, your opinion does not count... If we save the Republic, you still get to fight over issues... You want to save the Republic? Elect somebody who has already saved her state: Sarah Palin.”

Paul Bedard, at US News & World Report:

“Republican operatives are trying to figure out if a populist Republican like Sarah Palin, Jeb Bush, or Chris Christie can get into the presidential race so late in the process and grab the nomination next summer. Most Republican advisers say yes, but time is short.”

William A. Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection:

“Cain and Palin win Legal Insurrection Straw Poll... Sarah Palin wins big in an expanded field including Chris Christie, at 58% with Cain dropping to second at 14%, Christie at 13% , Perry at 8% and Romney at 3.5%... Palin has an enthusiastic base of support, more organized on the internet than any other candidate. That there were some links at pro-Palin blogs reflects that there are pro-Palin blogs, but few if any blogs backing the current front runners.”

Ron Devito, at US for Palin:

“Sarah Palin’s speech before the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, South Korea this October 11 is to provide a US leadership perspective on how to lead the world out of the latest [economic] crisis...”

RB Miller, at Every Day Conservative:

“Palin still has strong currency among base conservatives and Tea Party activists. Don't believe the spin about her negatives and GOP voters not wanting her to run etc. It's way to early to expect acceptance and most people have no idea where she stands on policy issues. Yet, her policies run right in line with the majority of Americans' viewpoint, excepting the liberal media and the uber Liberals. Palin will have the same obstacles of Logistics that Cain has as stated above. However Gov. Palin has more national support lined up waiting to go and has the ability to take the air out of Cain's momentum at the drop of her announcement... Interestingly, just a few months ago pundits were saying it was too late for her now. Currently, pundits are advising that she can wait even longer. I would posit that those who want her to wait past the Florida deadline for registering for the Primary, are either miscalculating or don't have Palin's interest at heart.”

ZIP, at Weasel Zippers:

“Sales Of Both Joe McGinnis And Levi Johnston Anti-Palin Books Bomb… Andrew Sullivan hardest hit.”

Joel B. Pollak, at Big Journalism:

“Joe McGinniss complained to lefty blog Firedoglake yesterday that almost everyone is canceling interviews in which he was to have discussed his book, The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin... According to McGinniss, his treatment by mainstream (and left) media has nothing at all to do with its negative reviews, or the fact that McGinniss himself admitted in January that there is no ‘factual evidence’ to support many of its most ‘salacious’ claims. Rather, it is the result of a conspiracy to cover up that same media’s abject failure to expose the ‘real’ Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign, including her role in the alleged ‘Dominionist’ plot to impose Christianity on us all. Yes, you read that correctly. McGinniss believes the mainstream media failed to vet Sarah Palin in 2008.”

Jim Geraghty, at NRO's Campaign Spot:

“Palin-Bashing Finally, Finally, Finally Jumps the Shark... Let me go out on a crazy limb here and suggest that the lesson here is that quality matters, even in hastily-thrown together hit pieces...”

Charles C. W. Cooke, at National Review Online:

“McGinniss — who likes to portray himself as a knight of truth — has an established history of what William F. Buckley Jr. called ‘elaborate deception.’ The book that came out of the saga, The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, seems to fit squarely in line with that record of dissimulation. The ubiquity of claims backed up only by ‘a friend says’ will render it obvious to most readers that the material is almost entirely the product of hearsay and idle gossip. But for those less attuned to the nuances of fact and fiction, McGinniss has written a useful introduction of sorts: In an e-mail to anti-Palin blogger Jesse Griffin, the author points out that from nobody has he ‘seen a credible, identified source backing any of the salacious stories about the Palin family.’ This is an understandable source of frustration, as ‘nothing [he] can cite other than [his] own reporting rises above the level of tawdry gossip... the proof is always just around the corner, but that’s a corner nobody has been able to turn...’ Sarah Palin is by no means a flawless individual. But the picture painted by McGinniss is wantonly damning, not to mention frequently self-contradictory.”

Dave Blount, at Moonbattery:

“No wonder liberals hate Bristol Palin so much that she has them shooting their TV sets... If a 20-year-old girl can stand up to these vermin so effectively, we have no excuse not to do the same.”

Mark America:

“The great shellacking of the left in 2010 was largely a result of the determined efforts of Sarah Palin and all those Tea Party patriots who answered her clarion call to clean up Washington by sending in new blood. The Tea Party responded magnificently, and they began in earnest the process of that critical reform. In this way, Sarah Palin has been a far more effective leader for the nation than she could have been in her office of Governor. What she must have discovered is what John Galt knew: In walking away, you will find liberation if you have the wisdom to make use of it. At the end of the story, there comes a moment when the so-called ‘quitters’ realize the way has been made clear, and they decide to return to the world at large. I can only imagine that Sarah Palin now looks to see if her way is now clear, and whether there is an opening through which she may now re-emerge. I believe that evidence has come in several forms, including the results of 2010′s elections, and the progression of this electoral season. At this moment, the Republican field is being shown to have few shining lights. Herman Cain’s ascension to the top of the Florida GOP straw poll is just the latest example. What all of this demonstrates is that the Emperors have no clothes. The people we’ve been told are the ‘front-runners’ have been such only for the apparent lack of better choices. There is a vacuum into which others may attempt to leap, but in truth, we all know that there’s only one person who will satisfy this lacking, and it isn’t the governor of a very blue state.”

Exit Quote - C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters #8:

“Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.”

- JP

Michael Shear: Palin ‘on the Verge’ of Decision About Presidential Run

She is reportedly "just days away from deciding whether to run for president."
*
At the NY Times political blog, The Caucus, Michael Shear writes that Gov. Palin is reportedly 'just days away' from making her decision on whether to get into the 2012 race for the White House:

In a letter to donors late last week, Tim Crawford, the chief of her political action committee, wrote that Ms. Palin is “on the verge of making her decision of whether or not to run for office.”

Mr. Crawford noted that “someone must save our nation from this road to European socialism,” and asked for money as a way of demonstrating support if she throws her hat in the ring. He gave no clue to her decision, though he added that time is “running out.”

In fact, the political clock is ticking away. Ms. Palin now faces serious deadlines in October that, if missed, could keep her name off the presidential primary ballot.

[...]

The brain trust around Ms. Palin is still small. It includes her husband, Todd; Mr. Crawford; Rebecca Mansour, who started a pro-Palin Web site; Michael Glassner, her chief of staff; and maybe a half-dozen other loyal aides.

They are well aware of the deadlines and of the amount of work that must be done quickly if she decides to run. Aides insist that if she has made a decision, they have not yet been informed about it.

If Ms. Palin tells them she is running, aides will move quickly to incorporate a campaign committee, probably in Delaware. They will have to find a headquarters building. (An aide promised it would not be inside the Washington Beltway.) Calls will be placed to 15 or 20 wealthy supporters to begin preparing for a fund-raising blitz.

[More]

Knowing the issues that are most important to Gov. Palin -- cronyism, energy security and the nation's debt crisis -- no one candidate in the GOP's field has seriously addressed all three. Michelle Bachmann has brought up cronyism; Newt Gingrich has talked some about energy; and a few candidates -- more notably Herman Cain and Ron Paul -- have discussed the debt crisis, but each of the candidates has deficiencies or other problems which we are sure would prevent the former vice presidential candidate from being able to give her endorsement.

Paul and Gary Johnson would fail her national security test. Gingrich, Bachmann, Cain and Rick Santorum have no executive experience in government. Rick Perry has cronyism issues, and when Gov. Palin stood up for Arizona governor Jan Brewer on illegal immigration, Rick Perry was nowhere to be found. We believe she would see Jon Huntsman as being too far to the left, and the single payer MassCare system as a disqualifier for Mitt Romney. As for potential candidates not yet int the race, Chris Christie's embrace of the global warming myth and opposition to developing conventional energy resources in his own state would likely be a non-starter for Sarah Palin, and she doubtlessly would find Rudy Giuliani's enabling of abortion and sanctuary cities as factors which would prevent her from granting an endorsement to the former mayor.

As Shear concludes, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee could very well decide that the void in the Republican Party's field of presidential contenders could only be filled by one person. Herself.

- JP

Day By Day (September 27, 2011)

It Stings
*
Good morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day:


Please support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 26 2011)

Gov Sarah Palin putting heat on Random House and Joe McGinnis
*
Greta Van Susteren, at GretaWire:

“Governor Sarah Palin may have the ‘smoking gun’ email!”

- JP

Gov. Palin's Attorneys Put Crown/Random House on Notice

"...you and Mr. McGinniss have defamed the Palins.”
*
From Jonathan Karl at ABC News blog The Note:

Sarah Palin’s family attorney John Tiemessen has written a letter to Maya Mavjee, the publisher of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, that Palin may sue her, the company, and the book’s author Joe McGinniss “for knowingly publishing false statements” in his book released last week, “The Rogue,” ABC News has learned.

The book was widely panned by critics for using unnamed sources to criticize Palin and her family. Tiemessen cites an email they have access to in which McGinniss writes that attorneys from Crown Publishing told him “nothing I can cite other than my own reporting rises above the level of tawdry gossip. The proof is always just around the corner, but that is a corner nobody has been able to turn” and that McGinniss “ran out of time” to sufficiently source the book.

A source close to the Palins tells ABC News that the “Palins are fighting back and demanding answers from Random House.”

The email Tiemessen cites in his letter to Mavjee came to light last week when conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted an email between McGinniss and liberal Alaskan blogger, Jesse Griffin. In the email posted on Breitbart’s site without explanation for how they got access to it, McGinniss writes, “Legal review of my manuscript is underway and here’s my problem: no one has ever offered documentation of any of the lurid stories about the Palins.”

Courtesy of Andrew Breitbart's Big Government, here are excerpts from the letter:

Enclosed is an e-mail by your author Joe McGinniss. In this e-mail, Mr. McGinniss admits that your own lawyers instructed him that “nothing I can cite other than my own reporting rises above the level of tawdry gossip.”….Indeed, Mr. McGinniss admits that the allegations are false unless he can find someone or something to show they are true. We know from the final book that he was unable to do so.

It is malicious for your company to publish a book wherein it, and the author, admit that they were fully aware the statements in the book were false, intended to be false, and were intended to harm…

Accordingly, since both your company, and the author, clearly knew the statements were false, admitted they had no basis in fact or reality, but decided to publish in order to harm Governor Palin’s family, you and Mr. McGinniss have defamed the Palins. This letter shall serve as written notice under AS.09.30.070 (b) that a claim may be brought against you, your company and Mr. McGinniss for knowingly publishing false statements.

In the interim, please take note of the following: It is unlawful to delete emails or destroy records upon being notified of the need of business records for litigation purposes. In addition, courts may impose civil sanctions against a defendant that destroys emails and other documentation. Please immediately provide notice to your employees to save and back up all records pertaining to the Palins and the book “The Rogue."

Landmark Legal Foundation president Mark Levin comments that the McGinness email to Jesse Griffin is essentially a waiver of attorney privilege:


Stacy McCain observes that the Tiemessen letter is no idle "threat." It's a “demand letter.”

ABC News has a copy of the full letter here.

- JP

Tony Lee: Sarah Palin Can Pass the Buckley & Limbaugh Tests For a GOP Primary

Gov. Palin seems to be trying to reunite Ronald Reagan's coalition for the 21st century.
*
At Human Events, Tony Lee is of the opinion that if Herman Cain's weekend straw poll win in Florida indicates Republicans are not enthusiastic about Perry and Romney, there's one candidate who could be poised to jump into the race and has the ability to "square the Buckley rule of electing the most electable conservative with the Limbaugh rule of electing the most conservative person in the field. That candidate is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin":

In a reputable and unbiased McClatchy/Marist poll released last week, Palin trailed President Obama by just five percent, 49% to 44%. These numbers are most striking when just last month, Obama led Palin, 56% to 35%. Palin made up the difference and surged because she has won over independent voters and now leads Obama among those crucial swing voters.

In August, Obama led among independent voters over Palin, 48% to 42%. Now, Palin leads Obama, 47% to 43%. Further, within her own party, Palin has strengthened her support among Tea Party voters, getting the support of 87% of those who support the Tea Part as opposed to just 70% in August.

One reason Palin may have won over independent voters in the past month is that she brought up the issue of crony capitalism in multiple speeches and television appearances before Obama was hit with a bevy of crony capitalism scandals ranging from Solyndra to LightSquared. Further, Palin has also reached out to union workers and disaffected Democrats in Facebook notes and speeches with her free market populism that pits her against big government and crony capitalism. This is the strategy Reagan used to build his enduring coalition, which Palin seems to be trying to cobble back together for the 21st century, uniting blue collar voters -- white and minority -- who identify with Main Street over Wall Street and Washington, D.C.

[...]

Because Palin now beats Obama among swing voters and is almost within the margin of error against Obama (and is the only candidate who is surging against Obama), though, she has to be considered electable as well.

And while Giuliani and Romney do slightly better against Obama than Palin, both Giuliani and Romney are associated with the liberal, northeastern, Rockefeller wing of the Republican party and cannot claim to be more conservative than Palin. The only candidate among the top four who can claim to be more conservative than Giuliani or Romney would be Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but Palin does better against Perry not only against Obama but among crucial independent voters.

[More]

Lee further observes that more so than any other candidate or potential candidate in the GOP field, Sarah Palin has embraced Tea party principles, which are closely associated with conservative principles. Therefore, she meets the Limbaugh test while remaining consistent with Buckley's.

According to Lee, if the GOP field gets winnowed down to Giuliani, Romney, Palin, and Perry, Gov. Palin is arguably the most conservative among them and the conservative candidate with the best chance of making Obama a one term president by winning over independents and staying in harmony with both the Buckley and Limbaugh rules.

- JP

Shushannah Walsh: Could This Be the Week Sarah Palin Gets in the Race?

In Iowa, "a state senator and a donor with another campaign" are ready to jump to Palin.
*
Shushannah Walsh, speculating at ABC News' The Note, points out that while Gov. Palin had told Jake Tapper that the end of September was "kind of a drop-dead timeline” for a decision on whether to get into the presidential race, the first Republican woman to be her party's vice presidential candidate also agreed with Sean Hannity that the end of October would be the latest she could announce because of legal filing deadlines. Walshe, like everyone else with the likely exception of Todd Palin, reviews the clues in search of a decision date for the Mama Grizzly whose tracks more recently resemble those of the Arctic Fox:

Saturday’s P5 or Presidential 5 Conference Straw Poll sponsored by the Florida GOP was a clear rejection of the two frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Despite strong speeches by Herman Cain—who won the poll with 37 percent of the vote—the delegates were definitely looking for another candidate and that is sure to be another signal to Palin that she can still get in. Of course, Perry’s poor performance at Thursday night’s Fox News/Google debate is another sign that getting in to the race late isn’t easy.

Steve Bannon, who made the Palin documentary, “The Undefeated” and remains close to Palin, thinks it’s a “big opportunity” because “the current list of candidates have failed to catch the imagination of either the conservative movement or the general electorate.”

“She’s making her own decision. It’s exactly what she has said 1,000 times. It’s her own decision and it’s in consultation with her family and through prayer, and that’s what I’m sure she’s spending a lot of time thinking about in Alaska,” Bannon told ABC News. “This is a life-altering decision.”

Just last week, SarahPAC sent out a fundraising appeal asking for donations because, as the message put it, Palin was “on the verge of making her decision of whether or not to run for office.”

That money cannot be used for a presidential campaign and, although the PAC will need funds, whether she runs or not it could be seen as a sign that she’s not going to get in the race and the organization is trying to pad the coffers before she lets the world know. Of course, if she does enter the race, money is likely to pour in as soon as she announced.

[...]

At least in the first caucus state of Iowa, Palin has help outside of the network of grassroots volunteers. A longtime GOP fundraiser in the state who has become a friend of the Palins, Becky Beach is ready to start raising money if Palin pulls the trigger, but even she has no idea if she will get in the race.

“I don’t know if she will or she won’t run, but if she does decide to do it I’ve already had a state senator and a donor with another campaign say if she were to get in they would jump to her,” Beach said.

[More]

From Sun Tzu, the great military strategist, we are reminded that all warfare is based on deception. Therefore, when capable, feign incapacity; when active, feign inactivity. Offer your enemy a bait to lure him; feign disorder, and then strike when he is least prepared for it. Those skilled in war avoid the enemy when his spirit is keen and attack him when it is sluggish.

- JP

Day By Day (September 26, 2011)

Why
*
Good morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day:


Please support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 25 2011)

The Joe McGinniss Method
*
Stacy McCain, at The Other McCain:

“Notice that Glenn Rice has said nothing — not one word — about McGinniss’s book since its publication. Does that not strike you as curious?”

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention Part 384

“Running Out Of Days” Edition
*


John Hitchcock, at Truth Before Dishonor:

“While Palin was at her floor in polling, others reached their peaks. Now, as the others are falling off their peaks, Palin is rising... wherever Palin goes the media follows and the other candidates lose media attention... while the other candidates can’t get their message out as effectively, neither do they get vetted (or smeared) as much. And as we saw in the 2008 Primary and General, the media may not smear a squishy Republican in the Primary but most definitely will in the General. Therefore, it is imperative that the Republican candidate for President be vetted as much as possible prior to winning the Republican Primary, and Sarah Palin’s entry into the race would instantaneously shut off the vast majority of the vetting of the other candidates as she takes the oxygen out of the room and everyone but everyone pays attention to her. So it’s best that Sarah Palin wait as long as possible before entering the battlefield. But therein lies the Palin Paradox. Her chances of winning increase the longer she waits to enter as everyone gets vetted and loses steam, but if she waits too late, her chances of winning go to zero. It is a difficult challenge to get the announcement timing down right, and Perry’s mid-August entry did shift the timing to a later date, but how late is too late?”

Tony Lee, at Human Events:

“Palin may be more confident in her chances to win the nomination after Perry's stumbles and Romney's longstanding vulnerabilities.”

AWR Hawkins , at Big Government:

“Until the most recent GOP debate took place, I was starting to think that perhaps Gov. Sarah Palin had waited too long to get into the race (if, in fact, she is getting in). Everything seemed to be solidifying around a match-up between Gov. Perry and Gov. McRomney, and it appeared that everyone else was simply fighting for their place on the periphery. But a strange thing happened on the way to deciding who the Republican nominee is going to be, and that strange thing was Perry’s inexplicable refusal to recant his support for a Texas tuition waiver for illegal aliens. No matter how you slice it, his ongoing defense of giving nearly $100,000 (over four years) to pay for an illegal alien to go to college is an albatross around his neck that’s so big even McRomney can see it... Perhaps Perry will correct himself... But until he does, the door is wide open for Palin to step in and ride a conservative wave all the way to the White House. Remember, she isn’t even in the race and she’s only trailing Obama by five percentage points right now.”

Mark America:

“The problem with so much in media is that most of it simply isn’t true, but that seems to pose no moral obstacles to those who are intent upon a campaign of personal destruction against Palin.”

Mark America:

“What Sarah Palin may teach this struggling nation is that our country is still one of plenty, and that we still have our resources, but despite all the wonderful opportunities America still provides, nothing is more important in realizing them than the vast, untapped human potential of its people. Neither Alaska nor America can be a land of opportunity without people of a mind and spirit to make use of all the gifts they provide. Many Americans have somehow lost the ability to recognize the opportunities before them, and more have lost the will to pursue them when presented. One of the key reasons for this depressions lies in the fact that government has now become the main obstacle to opportunity, prosperity, and even the human spirit of discovery and growth. Palin’s example is that of an entrepreneurial explorer, and if we learn from her no other lesson, this one will have been key to understanding the root of our troubles. We may always celebrate Columbus’ voyage to the New World, but history may yet record that it had been with Sarah Palin that we finally rediscovered America.”

Joel B. Pollak, at Big Journalism:

“First Random House promised Joe McGinniss would respect Sarah Palin’s privacy. Then Random House boasted about how McGinniss had exposed Sarah Palin’s personal and family life.”

Joel B. Pollak, at Big Journalism:

“Jesse Griffin, the anti-Palin blogger who was the recipient of a self-damning email from Random House author Joe McGinniss released yesterday by Andrew Breitbart, has accused Breitbart of ‘hacking’ his email. Griffin published his accusation in a blog post [Friday], in which he attempts to dismiss revelations that McGinniss had published, as fact, ‘tawdry gossip’ about Sarah Palin and her family that McGinniss apparently knew to be unsubstantiated... As with many of Griffin’s other false speculations, he provides no supporting evidence, because it does not exist. Similar false allegations of ‘hacking’ arose during the Weinergate scandal of late May and early June 2011.”

Andrew Breitbart, at Big Journalism:

“We already knew that Random House lied when they promised The Rogue would not invade Sarah Palin’s privacy. It is now apparent that Random House is misleading the public about the accuracy of McGinniss’s reporting on her personal life.”

Stacy McCain, at The Other McCain:

“Unlike ‘Tawdry Gossip’ About Sarah Palin... rumors that Levi Johnston’s sister is the kind of floozy who poses naked for Playboy magazine have been confirmed and documented... There have been rumors around Wasilla that Mercede was one of the sources for Joe McGinniss’s book. It was reported in June 2010 that Mercede’s anti-Palin blog (now defunct) was created by none other than Jesse Griffin, recipient of a shocking e-mail from McGinniss... Griffin is a deranged Trig Truther who even today describes Trig Palin’s birth as a ‘hoax.’ When you consider how Griffin boasts of having ‘provided support to . . . Joe McGinniss,’ and the friendly familiarity indicated by McGinniss’s e-mail to Griffin, what does this tell you about McGinniss?”

Stacy McCain, at The Other McCain:

“What does this ugly and utterly unsubstantiated gossip, repeated by Palin’s enemies, have to do with ‘the Real’ Sarah Palin?’ Nothing at all, except perhaps to indicate what a malicious pack of jackals her enemies are.”

John Hinderaker, at Power Line:

“McGinniss’s book apparently consists in large part of passing along the very rumors which he admits to be baseless... He acknowledges that because of his own personal dislike of Sarah Palin, he is desperate to find support for ‘salacious stories’ about her family; he admits further that he has struck out, and there is no evidence to support any of them. But did that deter either him or Random House? No! He wrote the book anyway, and they published it. Here is an idea: why don’t you go to Random House and tell them you have an idea for a book. You have heard a lot of lurid rumors about Barack, Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama; you hunted for evidence to support those rumors, but couldn’t find any. But you intend to write a book about the rumors anyway, and you would like Random House to publish it. What kind of reception do you think you would get?”

Matt Hadro, at NewsBusters:

“While CNN gave two tough interviews to Palin-bashing author Joe McGinniss, HLN's Joy Behar joked around with him on her Wednesday show.”

Jay Tea, at Wizbang:

“Breitbart, You Magnificent Bastard! You Read Their Book... To this layman, it looks like Breitbart has done all the legwork needed for a libel lawsuit against McGinniss and Random House. He has a victim, he has damages (Chuck Heath has had to give up his privacy, and could probably talk about how this caused strain within his family, as he had to assure them all that he hadn’t actually said what the book says he said...), he has actual malice, and he has reckless disregard for the truth. And the beauty of it? It was all unforced errors. Nobody made Creepy Joe hang so much of his book on Palin-haters with a history of just making [euphemism for ‘manure’] up. No one kept Creepy Joe or Random House from trying to contact Chuck Heath. And no one forced Pervy Jesse to write his outraged letter to Breitbart that confirmed that the e-mail was legitimate. Let this be a lesson to all: don’t cross with Andrew Breitbart. He won’t destroy you. No, he’ll just enable you to utterly destroy yourself. And you won’t be able to stop yourself.”

William A. Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection:

“I suggested in my original post that The Daily Caller didn’t know when to stop digging. I think I have been proven right.”

Patrick S. Adams, at Patrick's World USA:

“The journalistic and pop culture worlds are littered with boats that have wrecked on the rocks of their own Palin hatred. Well known people like Kathy Griffin, David Letterman, Bill Maher, Martha Stewart, Peggy Noonan, Joe Klein, Norah O'Donnell, Mike Tyson, Madonna and others like them have all lost varying shades of respect from the public at large. Their hatred consumed them and it hurt their brands in one way or another. If negativity is like a cancer that eats away at one's soul, it also eats away at one's reputation. Those who responded to the most existential threat to the progressive movement to ever walk the planet since Ronald Reagan have learned one universal truth: hate damages the hater more than the hated. We can trace the smear campaign against Sarah Palin from the 2008 presidential campaign, through the frivolous ethics complaints that resulted in her strategically brilliant resignation, through her book tours and speaking engagements all the way up to today where the final last gasp is symbolized by a book by Joe McGinniss which is being torn to pieces by both the left and the right for its lack of substance and documentation.”

Exit Quote - Vince Lombardi:

“We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time.”

- JP

Bill Hughes: Perry Romneyizes Himself, Opens Door For Palin

With Palin in the race, the tea party will finally have a candidate with a record of reform.
*
Bill Hughes, at City on a Hill Political Observer, explains why rick Perry's poor performance in last week's GOP debate may have been the game-changer that opens the door for Sarah Palin:

Perry came away from this debate extremely damaged. The talking heads such as Dick Morris (who earned his credibility as a political prognosticator by correctly predicting the 2008 matchup of Hillary Vs. Condi) insist that Romney scored major points in the debate and would reap the benefits of Perry's demise.

Maybe. But the problem with Romney is that he has been so politically duplicitous that the vast majority of tea party folks and many in the GOP no longer listen to a word that he says. He's lost all credibility and no longer possesses enough political clout to re-invent himself for the tenth time. So Perry's loss is not Romney's gain.

Who did gain? Well among the also-rans, Herman Cain scored some major points. He won today's Florida CPAC poll by a wide margin. Newt Gingrich presents himself well in the debates, but he's got the same credibility gap that Romney has. Santorum is a good guy but can't seem to generate any excitement. And Hunstman and Johnson simply amuse as dueling Don Knotts doppelgangers.

Perry's collapse will free up mainly tea party support. That tea party support is not going to Romney. And Romney's support will begin collapsing and heading to Don Knotts Jon Huntsman or the late entry of Chris Christie. In primaries, however, the tea party and the conservative wing of the party will be picking the winner this time. Not the media, the establishment or the ruling class RINOs desperately pushing the abrasive New Jersey governor into the race.

No, the person who benefited the most from this debate is Sarah Palin. Every day the justification for her entrance into this race gets bigger and bigger. Her national polling has dramatically improved and the crazed scouring of her emails, the documentary of her political career and her savvy political op-eds and speeches have been driving the political debate for months. Case in point: She gives a speech on crony capitalism and suddenly all of the GOP field is obsessed with rooting it out. Even folks who have been sidled up to its teat for some time.

With Perry on the verge of collapse, Palin's moment has arrived...

[More]

Take the jump and read Bill's full post.

- JP

Day By Day (September 25, 2011)

Hyper
*
Good morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day:


Please support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 24 2011)

Hmmmm...
*
John Nolte, via Twitter:

“Hey Stephen Hanks @Sickofpalin, did you & @hollywoodtv set up Bristol confrontation to get vid? ENQUIRING minds want to know.”

- JP

History repeats itself as latest anti-Palin books bomb

'The Rogue' was supposed to have found success where the Dunn and Bailey efforts met failure
*
The left's latest one-two literary punch against Sarah Palin is proving to be an ineffective combination that misses its mark. Disgraced author Joe McGinness' The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin and Caribou Country clown Levi Johnston's Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs were both released on Tuesday, but the book-buying public apparently couldn't care less. At the time of this writing, McGinness' hardcover hit job is sales-ranked #74 by Amazon and #208 at Barnes & Noble. Johnston's joke of a book fares even worse, at #888 in sales at Amazon and #20,049 at Barnes & Noble.

It's not like both books and their respective authors suffered any from lack of promotion by their publishers and left wing advocate bloggers. Random House/Crown conducted a major roll out campaign for The Rogue, lining up appearances for McGinnis to promote his book on NBC's "Today Show" and ABC's "The View," among other small screen venues. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau even signed on to a rather unique agreement to excerpt McGinness' drive-by character assassination of Sarah Palin in his "Doonesbury" strip. And The Rogue also got featured reviews by liberal newspaper mainstays The New York Times, Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Granted, the reviews were much harsher than Random House had expected, but as they say in the PR world, any publicity is good publicity. And speaking of publicity, McGinness and his 300-plus pages of Palin smears is currently in the vortex of a major controversy of firestorm magnitude, yet sales still remain tepid at best.

The massive hype surrounding McGinness has overshadowed the promotional effort for Johnston's Deer in the Headlights, but both Palin character assassins benefited from friendly television venues where they hawked their books, and nutroots left blogs have hyped both volumes as the knockout punches that would surely spell the political end of the first woman to govern Alaska and campaign as the Republican Party's vice presidential candidate once and for all. Yet despite all of this, both books have failed. What went wrong?

The left is already deep into the spin cycle, attempting to explain away the poor performance of the McGinness and Johnston books as a waning of the public's interest in all things Palin. But the Wasilla Warrior's name in the headlines still draws viewers to their television screens, sells magazines and guarantees web page traffic, so that excuse doesn't hold water. We submit that the public has not lost interest in Sarah Palin, but it recognizes a smear job when it sees one. The left, which can always be counted on not to learn a thing from history, has been to this well so many times that John and Jane Q. Public are no longer buying the lies.

A similar one-two combination was tried against Sarah Palin in the spring, and it was an utter failure then, as Steve Flesher wrote May 29 at American Thinker:

Palin-flamethrower, Geoffrey Dunn of the Huffington Post released The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power May 10th and Frank Bailey, former Aide to Palin, teamed up with Palin critic Jeanne Devon to release Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years on May 24th. Ardent opponents of Sarah Palin have been highly-anticipating these books which promised to tear down Palin's public image for the long-term.

Interestingly, Geoffrey Dunn's book has not even hit Amazon's top-100 list since its release; and after a week of media coverage including appearances on NBC, ABC's The View, Fox News, CNN, and many more, Frank Bailey's "memoir" disappointingly debuted at #40 and has already fallen to #75.

While reasonable voters notice that perhaps Americans are beginning to tire of the anti-Palin volume, others are sure to argue that Americans simply don't care about her at all, even though the latest headlines which seem to be tracking her every move impeccably could be enough to put that idea to rest.

One thing is sure for Palin as she moves toward making her 2012 decision. She enjoys the luxury of knowing she has been thoroughly vetted and scrutinized for the last two years. While anti-Palin readers have lined their ammunition up one year before a presidential campaign, her supporters are left wondering who is left in Alaska to interview. Because on the basis of Geoffrey Dunn's and Frank Bailey's accompanying Palin-bombs, what they've come up with so far doesn't seem to be effectively extinguishing the grassroots energy Sarah Palin has uniquely created and maintained.

The Rogue was supposed to have found success where the Dunn and Bailey efforts met failure, but McGinness made a fatal mistake. The author bet his book on hollow promises from an Alaskan blogger who fed McGinness a long list of juicy allegations, but few real people were willing to put their names behind the rumors. McGinness claims that the reason for the lack of any compelling evidence in his book is that people were fearful for their very lives. Were this the case then why are Jesse Griffin and the members of his gang of Palin-hating bloggers still alive and well in Alaska? No, the reason that McGinness' book is such a joke is that there's literally no there there. The rumors are anonymous and unsubstantiated because there's no truth to them, much less a single shred of compelling evidence to support them. Even liberal reviewers, who would otherwise be favorably disposed toward McGinness in his attempt to take down Clan Palin, recognize a lack of substance when they read it. Like the Dunn and Bailey assaults on Sarah Palin in May, the attempted September slayings of the Mama Grizzly by McGinness and Johnston are doomed to be abject failures.

- JP